1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a printer cartridge, and more particularly, to a printer cartridge comprising an element to prevent contact between rollers.
2. Description of the Related Art
After a printer cartridge is completely assembled in a manufacturing process, the printer cartridge is used to perform test printing for quality examination. Depending on an outcome of the test printing, the printer cartridge that has passed the quality examination is packaged and put on the market.
In such a printer cartridge that has undergone and passed the test printing, a toner used in the test printing remains in a developing roller provided in the printer cartridge. Further, the remaining toner exists in a photosensitive body (e.g., organic photo conductor (OPC) roller) in contact with the developing roller. Furthermore, the remaining toner exists in a charging roller in contact with the photosensitive body. Moreover, the remaining toner exists in a pressed state on a contact surface between the developing roller and the photosensitive body and a contact surface between the photosensitive body and the charging roller.
Accordingly, the printer cartridge is packaged with the remaining toner and put on the market, and therefore a problem arises in that the remaining toner left on the contact surface between the rollers (i.e., this refers to the OPC roller and the developing roller and/or the OPC roller and the charging roller) solidifies. Such a solidified toner disposed between the rollers causes a stripe pattern to appear on printing paper when the printer cartridge is practically used. That is, in a case that the solidified toner sticks to the developing roller, a toner is not suitably controlled to be layered on the developing roller, and thus a large amount of toner is applied, thereby being darkly printed on a corresponding portion of the printing paper. Further, in a case that the solidified toner sticks to the photosensitive body, a toner is not developed on the photosensitive body, and thus a white band pattern is printed on a corresponding portion of the printing paper. Furthermore, even though the solidified toner is detached little by little from the roller due to friction between the rollers, a considerably long time (i.e., typically, printing for approximately one hundred pieces of printing paper) is needed until the printer cartridge performs normal clear printing.
In the meanwhile, even though the toner does not exist between the rollers, in a case where the printer cartridge is not kept within a proper temperature and humidity range, low molecular elements may ooze from the developing roller, the charging roller and the photosensitive body, which is called migration. In this case, a band is formed on a contact portion of each roller due to the low molecular elements, so that black or white patterns appear on a corresponding portion of the printing paper.